Melissa Sagemiller Biography

Melissa Sagemiller had little interest in following in the footsteps of her
political family. By the time she was three, she was studing tap, ballet,
jazz and modern dance. At the age of nine, she responded to an ad in the
Washington Post to play Dill (a boy) in a stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird
and before she knew it, she was making her stage debut. Other roles followed,
including roles in A-Musing Woman, The Three Sisters, The
Miss Firecracker Contest, Archaic Language, Leader of the Pack
and Joy.

When she was 14, she was discovered in a Manhattan jewelery store and hired
by Eileen Ford to model. Although her modeling career kept her from the stage, she did get the chance to travel to places like Paris.

With a career well underway, Sagemiller desired a more "normal" life, and
left
Paris to attend The University of Virginia to study Art History. Deciding
to take on acting full time, she started studying the art at The Stella
Adler Conservatory, NYU's Stonestreet Studio, and at the Michael Howard
Studio.

With experience and education under her belt, she had no difficulty getting
started on her screen career with bit parts in such series as Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit, Spin City, Another World, As the
World Turns and Apt.2F.

In 2001, she made her feature film debut with a major role in Get Over
It playing Allison. Her next role was the lead character Cassie in the
horror/thriller Soul Survivors.